The Little Knight
by Umidunnostuff
Summary: Gajeel is the first Prince of the kingdom of Magnolia, and Levy McGarden is one of the candidates for the knight exam. Gajeel finds himself taking an interest in the small fellow, unaware that he is actually a she. Levy is a girl, attempting to aquire a better life for her and her adopted sister Lucy. This will eventually be a Gajeel x Levy fic
1. Chapter 1

Gajeel, first prince of the kingdom of Magnolia, was pissed off. His aide, and right hand knight was late. Sir Pantherlilly was typically extremely punctual and organized, so Gajeel had no idea where he could possibly be. Lilly was supposed to be helping him with his paperwork, and Gajeel had gone half an hour, before getting pissed enough to go looking for him.

Gajeel found his aide in the training ring, seeming to be helping a new recruit. The palace training grounds were opened certain days of the week to those attempting the knight exam, and he knew that Lilly liked to go and help them out. The man, if he could be called that, that Lilly was sparring was tiny to say the least. The fellow was short, even by women's standards, and very scrawny. If going by appearance alone, one would think that he was no more than fourteen or fifteen years of age. The prince watched, prepared to see his knight going exceptionally easy on the boy, when he noticed something. Lilly was barely pulling his blows, and the boy was holding his own. He was fast, and wielded the sword with enough agility to counter the height difference. When they called their sparring match to an end, the smaller fellow was visibly worse for wear than Lilly, panting and with scuffed chain mail, while the larger man was much less out of breath. Still, it was an impressive show against one of his best Knights. As the two turned to exit the ring, Lilly caught sight of the prince leaning on the fence, and immediately dropped into a bow.

"Prince, what are you doing here?" Asked the large man, the shorter fellow, who had taken off his helmet to reveal startlingly blue hair, under a bandana pulled low on his forehead, jumped at the word prince, before dropping into a clumsy bow as well. Gajeel sighed. He was no longer angry, and found himself interested in the small boy.

"Get up, get up," he grumbled, and the two stood, the blue haired one standing awkwardly, seeming to be trying to inch away.

"Lilly, you're late. Who is the fellow who took so much of your time?" At this, the fellow went to bow again, voicing nervous apologies.

"No, no. It's fine. What's your name, who are you?" He asked to the boy gruffly.

"My name is Levy McGarden." He responded. "I'm eighteen, and I'm training in the hopes of passing the knighting qualification exam." Replied the boy, rather stiffly. Gajeel snorted when he mentioned his age. This boy really was tiny. Lilly pitched in now,

"I saw Mr. Levy fighting with Jet and Droy, you know, the two of the ones who passed last year, but he seemed to be beating them fairly easily, so I gave him a more difficult partner.," he shrugged sheepishly," I may have lost track of time." Lilly tended to get absorbed in helping the trainees, as they were taking the exact same path he had taken eight years ago, when he was eighteen. Knighthood was one of the only ways for common folk to raise their social standings, but it really wasn't an easy path to follow. As well as being able to fight, the Knights had to have a grasp of strategy, conflict resolution and de escalation, and a grasp of the nations politics. The Knights acted as military commanders, and advisors to the royalty in times of turmoil. Of course, the older or more skilled ones were the ones who often were given military command, or consulted on issues, but if one stuck to it, they could gain significant social and political standing, even from a low birth. Of course, most of the Knight candidates were second or third children of nobles, or children of lower noble houses, looking to raise their standing. Only about two in ten actually passed on testing day.

Levy, seeing that the two much taller men were absorbed in their own conversation, took the opportunity to slink away. It was probably disrespectful, but prince Gajeel was terribly intimidating. On the way home, the little blue haired fellow stopped to pick up a loaf of bread, before making his way to the cottage, which was shared by his adopted sister Lucy, a pretty blonde girl one year older.

On the way in, Levy stomped his boots on the entry rug, and then removed them, making his way into the living room. There was Lucy, sitting gracefully, reading a book. She gave a greeting as Levy passed her on the way to the bedroom. There, the tunic, chain mail shirt, and long sleeved undershirt were removed, to display a slender body, with tight bindings tied about the chest. The bindings came off to display the soft curves of a young woman. Levy McGarden was female.

Levy sighed as the ability to breathe freel was returned to her, then removed the bandana from her forehead, and put on a dress, washing her face in a basin, before heading back to the room where Lucy resided. Lucy glanced up and smiled.

"How was training today," she asked brightly. Levy responded,

"It was actually really good. I ended up sparring with a very skilled knight named Sir Pantherlilly. I might have gotten him in trouble, because Prince Gajeel came looking for him, and that was scary." Levy shivered at the memory of the intimidating man. "Have you ever met him?" Levy was curious, because Lucy actually worked as a made for the third and youngest of the siblings, Wendy the princess. The second Prince Natsu got a lot of mentions in the household, because of his habit of breaking down walls with cannons. Lucy had barely ever mentioned first Prince Gajeel in her daily reports though. As Levy worked at a bookstore, and therefore had no chance to encounter him, she had had no idea what to expect, but she had not expected quite that many piercings.

"He keeps to himself mostly, though I have heard that his and Natsu's sparring matches are epic," shrugged Lucy. "Are you doing okay? I always say, you don't need to go this far for me," said Lucy worriedly. Levy had been training and studying for the past couple years to take the knight exam, in the hopes of making enough money to send her sister to a medical university. Lucy was fascinated by it, so though the two had met on the streets and had nothing to their names, Levy wanted her to be able to chase her dreams. They had adopted each other, and supported each other since childhood. Both were bookish, though Levy ended up far tougher, and one of her former employers, in another city, had taught her how to fight, at her request. Old man Makarov, head of The Fairy Tail Tavern, had employed and looked after the two for two years, before they decided to move on and chase their dreams. The two lived contentedly, working their way slowly and steadily forwards.

A. N.: so this is my second gajevy fic, though it's the first one with an actual plot. I made the dragonslayers royalty, and siblings, for the sake of simplicity. If you read this, then thank you very much. I did no research in this topic, and nothing is historically accurate. There will be no magic. Any and all comments are welcome, and thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Gajeel sighed, on his third hour of paperwork. He had been swamped recently, having drawn the short straw of his siblings, and been put in charge of the knight exams, as well as all of his other duties. Currently, he was alone in his office, with Lilly being on his break. He was working on investigating some tensions with a neighboring nation, a border dispute. As he reached for his atlas, he remembered that it had been in his last office, which Natsu had managed to incinerate during a training exercise with the castle guard. Why his hyperactive sibling was considered responsible enough for command and supervision of the royal guard was beyond him.

Anyways, he was now in need of a new, high quality atlas. Usually, he would send a servant or Lilly out on the errand, but he was exhausted, wanted out of this office. He decided to go to the bookstore in town himself. He was less well known than his flashy brother, and his well known and loved little sister, so it wouldn't be a problem. He tied a bandana over his forehead, covering some of his prominent piercings, and changed into nondescript clothing.

He walked to the higher class area of town, keeping his head down. The bookstore was located conveniently, quite near the palace, as books were monumentally expensive, and could sometimes be difficult to come by. He entered the store, nodding absently to the girl behind the desk, and wandering about, searching for the atlases and maps. He found himself somewhat frustrated that he couldn't find his goal. Eventually, a soft voice came from besides him,

"Can I help you find something?," the shopgirl had approached him, somehow without him noticing. She was tiny, craning her neck to look up at him. Her blue hair struck a familiar chord in him, but he couldn't quite place it. He responded, "yeah, I need an accurate atlas. The nicest one Ya got." The girl nodded, and turned, gesturing him to follow her, as she wound her way with ease through the maze like shelves. She didn't seem to have recognized him, but if she had, she didn't say anything. He watched her walk in front of him, her hips swaying gently, feet padding silently, and was again struck by déjà vu. She came to a stop in front of a shelf filled with finely bound large books, and launched into descriptions of each for him. He chose one quickly and left, leaving her alone in the store.

Levy relaxed the instant he left. She found the first Prince terribly intimidating, and it was the first time anyone from the castle had spotted her outside of training. In training, she had padded up her boots, giving herself an inch in height, and wore a thick bandana over her forehead, hiding her delicately manicured eyebrows, and casting her large eyes into shadow. She also flattened her chest, and wore loose layers to give the illusion of bulk. That seemed to be enough to hide her identity, though he had given her a look when she first approached him. Why on earth would Prince Gajeel appear in the bookstore? Him of all people!

Generally, the store was a good job. The pay was decent, the clientele were generally mostly polite, and she could study from the books during the breaks. This was convenient, as nobles typically have a massive advantage over common folk, as they could afford book learning. Levy and Lucy poured every penny that they could save into books, but could only save enough for a medical book for Lucy, and one book on politics, and a story book. The rest, the two had to figure out by getting others to lend them books, or studying during breaks and slow hours at Levy's work.

She returned to the book she had been perusing at the desk, as it was a slow day. It was a battle strategy book. The exam date was in only two months, and Levy intended to pass her first time around. After that, she would be assigned a mentor knight to follow around, and assist. Typically, she would also have to live with them. That was when the real challenge as far as her gender would come, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

Levy got off work, and remembered that today the training ring was open. Despite the fact that the run in with the prince had unnerved her, she needed the training. She headed home, getting ready in the empty house. Lucy was still at her job, as a handmaid. If Levy got lucky, she would catch Lucy on her way out and they could walk home together.

Once she arrived, she set to work, running through slashing and stabbing drills repetitively, lost in her own world. She finished with the warm up drills maybe twenty minutes later, and glanced around for a partner. As she did that, she spotted a familiar face. Laxus Dreyar. He was the son of the owner of fairy tale tavern, and also the head of the Knights. He hadn't spotted her yet, as she was a ways away, and wearing a helmet, but he could be useful ally, so she decided to try to get him on her side. She ignored him for now though, scanning the yard for anyone who looked idle, when she spotted sir Lilly. He had fought her last time, and was a very good sparring partner. He met eyes with her as he entered the large ring, and approached.

"Mr. Levy!" He called, once he had approached her, "nice to see you again. Do you need a partner?" She nodded, and with no preamble the two took their stances. She attacked first, slashing quickly, using her speed. He used his superior height and strength to try and wear her out. One of the weaknesses of faster more active fighters is that they tend to wear out, and he was taking full advantage of that in order to wear her down. Levy was working on stamina, and held up quite well, but began to wear out. Her strikes were still landing, landing against his side and shoulders, but the clanging from hits on her helmet were giving her a headache, and exhaustion was weighing on her arms, making her sword heavy. Pantherlilly was also breathing heavily, though not as much as her. He used his superior side to shove into her body, knocking her to the ground, and placing his sword at her neck. The two held that position for a moment, before Pantherlilly sheathed his sword, and held out his hand to the smaller figure, yanking Levy to her feet. She removed her helmet, exhausted.

"Good fight, sir Pantherlilly," panted out Levy, before turning away to grab her water skin. "You too, Levy." He responded, doing the same as her." If your diplomatic skills are as good as your sword fighting, you should have no problem."

Lilly relaxed next to the smaller fellow for a few minutes. He had never met such a small man, and when he had first seen him, he had been astonished. He had come down to the training ring, and seen a tiny figure in oversized chainmail, beating a low level knight, Jet, while his friend Droy panted nearbye. He had sparred with him, and had been so absorbed that he was late, and Prince Gajeel had come looking for him. That had seemed to terrify the small recruit. In the past couple weeks, Lilly had formed a sort of friendship to the small fellow, learning of his sister Lucy, and chatting on the things that he was learning. Lilly was actually hoping that if Levy passed, that he could be a mentor to the young man, because he really did enjoy his presence. As his break came to an end, Lilly exited the field, waving to the much smaller man and going to change.

Levy decided to continue with drills where she had left off, and then push ups and sit ups to improve her stamina. She was unusually muscled and wiry for a girl, but she hid this with loose, flowing dresses with sleeves. When she finally finished, and removed her helmet, Laxus, who was still observing, finally caught her eye. She could tell that he wanted to speak to her, and she turned to head home, knowing that he would probably follow. As she walked, she wondered what her sort-of older brother figure would have to say.

A. N.: ooh, will Laxus help out levy, or turn her in? SUSPENSE! Sorry for taking so long, life is stressful. Thank you to readers, and any comments are welcome. Suggestions, complaints, whatever. You guys are great, and thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Levy made her way home as the sun set, and when she arrived, Lucy was again in the living room studying. Levy marched past her to the bedroom, nodding in greeting and announcing,

"I saw Laxus today. He should be on his way here now." Lucy looked up at this, startled. She had known that this was a possibility, as he was the new head of the Knights, but this was still sudden. The two girls hadn't seen Laxus in a year. They had seen him around while working at the fairy tale tavern, and though he had been a jackass at first, he became very attached to the two girls, and was pretty protective of them. Not that he would ever admit it. Lucy had actually had a bit of a crush on him for a while, but he acted a lot like a protective big brother, and that was how the girls viewed him.

Right on cue, a banging came on the door, and Lucy could hear the grumpy man grumbling to himself. Levy was still changing, so she went and opened the door for him.

"Is shortie here?" He said, with no preamble, "yeah, she'll be out in a minute." The two sat in silence until Levy exited the bedroom. At this, Laxus stood and walked to her, towering over her, eyebrow cocked in the universal 'explain yourself' facial expression.

"Now talk. What the hell are you doing training for the knight exam?" He demanded.

"Okay okay, well you and your grandfather taught me to sword fight pretty well, and I figured I'm smart, so I could do it. And having a brother who is a knight would help Lucy get to medical school, plus it would help us afford books, and I mean, I've never had any interest in marriage anyways," she said, all in one breath. Laxus listened, his face inscrutable. He sat down with a sigh, before looking at her.

" you know when this goes bad, I won't be able to protect you." He said, glaring.

"Laxus, this is the only way for a single girl with no family or help can possibly get or afford an education. I can do it." Laxus looked at the tiny girl, but he couldn't find it in him to try and stop her. He resolved to try and look after her if she ended up under his command.

" ugh fine. You can try. I won't be able to protect you if you get caught, remember that," he grumbled before stomping out. Levy turned to her sister,

"Well that went well" she chirped, before going to start making dinner.

The next day in the training arena, Levy did her normal drills, and again looked around for a sparring partner. She saw Laxus observing, but next to him was the slightly shorter figure of the first Prince Gajeel. She saw Sir Panther Lilly approaching her, but was mildly horrified to see Prince Gajeel push himself off the wall and follow her friend and training partner towards her.

"Hello Levy!" Called out Lilly, oblivious to her terror, "you met Gajeel a while back, right?"

"Y- yes, briefly," she responded, quietly, staring at the ground.

"Yeah, that time I was late. I remember," said Lilly, laughing slightly sheepishly.

"Lils been goin' on about you, how your a shoe in for the test, and since I'm overseeing them this year, I thought I'd come check it out." Said Gajeel, eyeing Levy critically," I didn't remember how short you were though."

Levy was annoyed now. She would show this rude Prince. Her nervousness about him recognizing her from the store evaporated, as she felt the need to prove herself.

"Would you like a sparring match, Prince?" She asked politely. He was royalty, after all.

"Gihi, Sure thing, shrimp, but I don't go easy," he said, grinning, and readying a massive iron broadsword. Levy returned his grin, readying her own sword.

"Neither do I, Prince!" She replied. Lilly gave a start signal, and the two sprung into action. The Prince was clearly skillful, at least as good as Pantherlilly, if not better, but he wasn't used to fighting opponents this much shorter or faster than him. Levy slipped under his guard and jabbed him in the stomach, but he swung the hold of his sword and clocked her in the head, causing her to stumble back, and barely parry his next strikes.

Gajeel was impressed, this tiny fellow was actually any good. He had been skeptical hearing his aide raving about the the person he had briefly met. He could tall that he was the better fighter, he'll his blows probably felt like the sky was falling to the tiny man, but damn. To have lasted this long was impressive. Gajeel eventually overpowered him, blowing him backwards and onto the ground in one powerful stroke.

The young fellow lay there gasping for air, and Gajeel offers him a hand, as is polite. The boy, Levy took it and stood, removing his helmet. Gajeel got a look at his face, and was even more surprised at his fighting prowess. He had the most delicate features that the larger man had ever seen. A small pointy nose, soft pale skin, and massive eyes under a bandana all combined to make for a strikingly effeminate person. The boy also had unusual, but vaguely familiar blue hair, tied in a ponytail.

"You look like a little girl. How on earth are you so good at fighting?" Grumbled Gajeel, who was also sweaty and panting.

"Hey. I can't help how I look." Snapped Levy, no longer caring that Gajeel was the Prince. Lilly stepped in now.

"Do you believe me now, metal head?" He asked smugly.

"Yeah yeah. Shrimps got some moves" grumbled the Prince grumpily. Levy couldn't help laughing at his almost pout at being proved wrong. The two gave her a look, and she stifled her laughter. They then notice the position of the sun.

"Shit, I should've gone back to my work like an hour ago," said Gajeel. He turned to stomp away, turning back to shout,

"Good match, shrimp, let's go again sometimes." Before continuing away, Lilly following in his wake. Levy stood in awe at what had just happened. She had just had an entire sparring match with the first Prince of her country. As she exited the ring, she passed Laxus, who gave a wordless pay on her back, before turning to walk in the other direction. She kept walking, knowing she had the blessing of her big brother, and headed home.

A. N.: I wrote another one! So basically I don't have any of the plot actually planned out, so I'm open to suggestions. Sorry if it sucks. I love you guys for reading this. Any and all comments make my heart happy, even if it's complaints or whatever. I love you guys.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the weeks leading up to the test, Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlilly fell into an easy casual friendship. They sparred together nearly every day, and the three would compete to see who could do the most push ups, or they would have impromptu foot races. Things like that. Levy, of course, lost most of the sparring matches, as well as the push up contests, but she soundly beat the two much larger men at the running. Her one advantage was speed, so the two almost always lost soundly.

Gajeel, of course, insisted upon referring to Levy as shrimp. He very rarely used her actual name, and it annoyed te hell out of her. She had long since dropped the 'Prince' in front of his name, about a week after he told her to. She eventually picked up Pantlerlillys affectionate moniker, metal head, on account of his numerous unusual piercings. At this point, the two males would be sorely disappointed if Levy failed the exam, but they had faith in their friend. They also knew that once she got through (no if in their mind) Gajeel would assign her to Lilly without a second thought.

On the day of the test, the competitors arrived at noon in the training arena for the physical testings. There were about thirty competitors in total. More people probably wanted to go, but had ducked out due to how legendarily difficult the testing was. Levy was easily the smallest person there, and she heard some guffaws from the observers as she walked into the ring. Many townsfolk came to observe knight testing, and some of the current Knights had also come to observe, and were leaning on the railing around the training ring. Lucy was there among them, watching her adopted sister fearfully.

Every prospective member wrote their name down on a price of paper, and then lined up in rows. In front of the group stood Laxus and Gajeel. Laxus being the head of the Knights, and Gajeel being the royal assigned to the knight testing this year. There also was Gajeels little brother and sister, Natsu and Wendy. They were there for second opinions, in case any of the candidates were on the edge of passing.

First, all of the candidates were quizzed and run through the basic sword drills, with the observing judges marking the ones that looked promising. They then proceeded to spread the candidates out and assign each of them a line of three Knights. They would have to fight each, in turn, for twenty minutes straight, with no breaks. The point wasn't whether you win or lose, and even if someone fell, bro it the candidate or knight, they were expected to get back up and continue. If a candidate lost a match, their opponent, skills and other factors would be taken into account. The point was to push the candidates to their limits, to see how they performed when absolutely exhausted.

Levy found herself up against a dark haired man, who looked slightly older than her. He nodded, and introduced himself as 'Gray', while looking her up and down skeptically. He took his position across from her, sword at the ready, waiting for the start call. When it came, Gray rushed her immediately, trying to use his superior strength. He didn't have to conserve any energy, because he only had to fight one round, but Levy had to carefully pace herself. She parried, deflecting the strikes away, avoiding taking the brunt of the blows. She tried to duck under his guard, to get to close combat and negate the larger mans reach advantage. She managed to jab at his stomach, before skipping out of reach in time to barely miss a slash at her face. the fighting continued like this for the agreed twenty minutes, and Levy was already panting and sweaty by the time the end to the first match was called. There had been no conclusive winner in their knight she had sparred with, Gray, was also out of breath and sweating as he exited. Levy watched as he walked out, being patted on the back by the pink haired Prince, Natsu.

The next opponent, Levy recognized. He was a well known battalion commander, Jura. This caused her to blanch a little, as he was renowned for his strength and skill. She got into her ready position again, and waited nervously for the call to start. As soon as it started, Levy dashed in. She could tell that Jura was a defensive fighter, that tended to parry instead of advancing, so she decided to show off. The point of this test was to display her skills, right? She dashed in, stashing at his midsection, and avoiding a stab by leaping forward and to the side, ending up slightly behind him. She aimed a blow at his kidney, but he turned rapidly and managed to counter her, before raining heavy blows on her head and shoulders. His attacks were numerous and powerful, and Levy could tell that she was greatly outmatched, though she still put her all into it. She used all of the speed that she could to try and strike at him, and managed to stay on her feet for the entire match, though just barely. When the end of that match was called, levy was heavily out of breath, gasping and panting. Jura, she was pleased to see, seemed at least a little out of breath, though no where near her levels of exhaustion.

For the final match, it was an orange haired knight slightly taller than her first opponent. He nodded and introduced himself as Loki. Around her, some of the contestants were throwing up, panting. A few had already dropped out. Levy was exhausted, but she refused to stop now. She took a stance again, against her final opponent, sword heavy in her hands. It was Loki who attacked first, running at her. He was fast and strong, and Levy only barely parried his strikes. She managed to get a couple strikes in, but for the first time in the test, she was pushed to the ground. She stood immediately, skipping back, and not allowing him to place his sword at her neck, before running back at him. After nearly an hour straight of fighting, her muscles were burning, sweat pouring down her face, breath wheezing. She couldn't stop moving, though. Adrenaline was pumping, and levy felt more alive than ever. She was being challenged, and she refused to fail. She started pushing the knight back, blows speeding up, despite her protesting limbs. He looked surprised, but he met her, looking more serious than before. The two fought with intensity, exchanging blows up until the moment the end was called.

After the end to the final match was called, several people collapsed on the spot, too exhausted to go on. Levy stood, panting and dripping sweat, and shook hands with her partners. She took off her helmet, and removed her bandana to redo her hair into its ponytail, her long fringe falling in her face.

Gajeel and the judges stood, poring over a list of people who would move onto the next stage of the exam. He couldn't help but glance up at the little blue haired fellow that he had formed a friendship with. He was standing on the far side of the arena, having taken down his shoulder length blue hair, and drinking from a water skin. He really did look like a girl, especially with his hair like that. Gajeel shook himself from that train of though and turned back to the list. Overall, eight people had passed, out of the nineteen who made it to the end of the test.

Levy waited in anticipation as the judges went over their notes before turning to face the group of prospective Knights. She listened anxiously for her name. It came, the second to last in a very short list of sighed in relief, and smiled. All of the passing contestants were immediately ushered into a hall, with tables and paper and pens. They were asked to complete a written test, straight out of their exhausting physical training, and Levys tired mind gave her objections, refusing to think straight.

As she worked to conquer her exhaustion, levy thought to herself "you made it this far. You can do this. You studied for this". With that, she willed herself to concentrate, and picked up her pencil and wrote. Her vision was swimming by the end of the allotted hour, but she wrote to the best of her abilities, and was satisfied with the effort.

The group was shooed out of the hall for the tests to be examined, and Levy collapsed to the ground, the first real chance to relax since the test had started. After this judging, it would all be over, one way or another. The small group stood or sat, waiting for someone to exit through the grand doors, and announce who had passed the examination.

A. N.: cliffhanger! Yay, I wrote another one! Anyways, I still barely know where I'm going with this, so any complaints or suggestions will be considered, so please keep sending them in. I love your comments. Thank you very much for reading my story.


	5. Chapter 5

After several minutes, during which the eight contestants sat in a tense silence, Gajeel and Laxus extend the building with a list. They called off six names. The last one called was Levys. After this, they addressed the remaining group.

"The next challenge will be the most difficult of the lot. It could last for hours, so we have decided to give you all a chance to bow out gracefully!" Announced Gajeel. The group looked at him, shocked.

"I want everyone to stand at attention, facing me, with your eyes closed. If you feel that you cannot continue, leave now. Do not speak to anyone, you must decide on your own."

Levy stood silently, eyes closed, considering what to do. Her muscles were sore, and she could barely think straight. She was exhausted in every way possible, and very nearly considered giving up. She heard the scuffing of boots. Someone had left. No. I will not give up. I have done this much, what's a few more hours, she thought to herself. I have to protect Lucy, I have to get her to her dreams. With these thoughts running through her mind, Levy stayed stalwartly in place, as more boots shuffled by her.

When the call came for the prospective Knights to open their eyes, there was only three remaining. The three were motioned to reenter the building where they had taken their tests, though it was now filled with the Knights who had observed or assisted with the tests, about a hundred total. The three prospective members were ushered to the front of the silent, somber room. They, Laxus, Gajeel, Natsu, and Wendy all stood in the front of the room, facing the Knights. Laxus stepped forward and announced,

"Presenting our newest Knights, Sting Eucliffe, Rouge Cheney, and Levy Mcgarden!" The room erupted into cheers, and the two besides levy hugged each other, before hugging Levy suddenly. The Knights surged forward, congratulating their newest members, patting backs and shouting, or shaking hands. The group of rowdy men hoisted the three triumphant new Knights up onto their shoulders, and burst from the building, cheering and shouting. Eventually they let them down, and Levy looked around frantically for Lucy.

While she was looking for her, Lucy ran up and leapt into Levys arms, crying tears of joy.

"You did it, you did it, Lev!," she sobbed," I'm so proud of you, little brother!" At this Levy was reminded that she would never again be seen as a girl, if all went well. She didn't mind that much though. She was already completely unable to marry. Once Lucy released her, Levys legs nearly gave out, as the adrenaline had long since faded.

Pantherlilly decided that now was a good time to congratulate his young friend, and he approached her, Gajeel not far behind.

"Levy! Congratulations! And who would this lady be? A girlfriend for our little Levy?" Called Pantherlilly, as he approached.

"Lilly, thanks!" She replied, smiling tiredly at him," This is my sister Lucy."

"Oi shrimp, Ya did it," called Gajeel, approaching, trailed by Natsu, as the two of them were periodically congratulating all of the successful candidates. Levy noticed Natsu eying her sister, and Lucy blushing slightly, having noticed his attention.

"Don't call me that, metal head." She muttered, as he rested his elbow on her head.

"Anyways. Show up tomorrow at dawn, you'll be assigned your mentor." He said, all business now. " you'll have to move to the barracks, and go through training two hours a day, in between working with your mentor. Don't be late."

Levy nodded seriously, and took the map and schedule he offered. The final of the royal siblings came bouncing up. Wendy was the youngest, at fifteen, then Natsu at nineteen, and Gajeel was twenty two. Wendy ran up and hugged Lucy, chattering excitedly at her,

"Oh Lucy! You never told me you had siblings, let alone a prospective knight! Wow, you two look nothing alike!"

The two were obviously close, despite their status as princess and maid, and Wendy seemed very pleased for both Lucy and Levy. She knew about Lucy's aspirations towards medical school, and was glad that she was a step closer. She turned to Levy to introduce herself,

"Hello, mr. Levy, I'm Wendy. Good job on passing your exam!" Levy smiled at the girl, "hi Wendy. You can just call me Levy. Thank you. Also, thanks for looking after my sister" responded Levy, gently. At this point, Levys face was soft and relaxed, and even with the sweat and grime, the gentle smile on her face made everyone think, 'how is this person not a female, but a powerful man?' Nobody was suspicious yet, though.

Levy would have to completely erase her identity as a female in town. All that really required was quitting her job at the bookstore, as she almost always went to the market in her armor, or Lucy just went. The two weren't well known in town, so it wouldn't be a problem.

At this point, Laxus approached the group, thumping Levy on the back, and making her stumble.

"I'm proud of you, kid," was all he said, before going off on his business. Levy swelled with pride at just those words, as that was a lot of praise for the older man. The royal siblings all had to go off on their business as well, so they made their exit after bidding the girls goodbye.

As the two walked home, Levy contemplated the fact that she was taking a step forward in her life. She would be considered a male, live as a male. She would also be considered a minor noble, and make a much larger pay than previously. She would be able to put Lucy into a medical collage, and let her follow her dreams. The two had decided that they would save for a year if Levy made it, and then Lucy would enroll. They were working their way towards their dreams of a better life.

A. N. : welp. There's the test. Life in the Knights regiment up next. Should be interesting. Also, soon we'll find out about the girls past. Lots of fun! Any comments, suggestions and complaints are welcome. Thank you so much for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

The evening after the test, Levy went and quit her job at the bookstore, after donning a dress for what very well could be the last time in her life. She felt a bit of nervousness at the absoluteness of it all, but she was certain of her path, and continued forward. At home, she gladly collapsed into bed.

The next morning, she was up before dawn, sore muscles screaming at her. She put on her usual layers and tied her hair up. After checking that the cheat binding was secure, Levy was on her way out. She found herself waiting in an office for a secretary of some sort, though they seemed to be absent. The two who had passed the test with her joined her .

"Hello, I don't think we ever introduced ourselves properly," said the blonde one, turning to her as to break the silence. The dark haired one seemed a bit more reserved. "I'm Sting, and this here is Rogue. We grew up together after our parents died in the war seven years ago." Levy nodded at them and shook hands, introducing herself.

"So we get assigned mentors to follow around, right?" Said Levy, looking around the quiet office. "I wonder when that secretary will show up?" At this, a white haired woman ran in, flustered and out of breath.

"Sorry about that," she panted, " I'm Laxus's secretary, Mirajane." The woman had long silver white hair, and ice blue eyes. She was a classical beauty, and Levy could see that the two boys were having difficulty keeping their eyes off of her.

"Anyways! You three are the new recruits, right?" She chirped, cheerful now, "I have your uniforms and your mentor assignments here." She thrust some clothing into their arms. It was a long white tunic with the insignia of the Knights, plus a pair of breeches and some fine boots. They tucked them under their arms, to change into later. Next came mentor assignments The three leaned forward in anticipation. The two taller boys were assigned first, to Knights who's names she had never heard, and sent off to change in the barracks, and get to work. Then came Levy.

"Levy McGarden... You got sir Pantherlilly! You'll find him in Prince Gajeels office, helping out with the royal paperwork." The beautiful woman winked at her, and waved her off, "go, go, I'm sure they need all the help they can get."

At this, Levy dashed off. It took some wandering, but she found the building on the price of paper she was handed, which was blessedly empty, and then made her way to the castle, and found the office. She pushed her way inside and observed the organized chaos before her. Lilly was running a stack of books from one side of the room to the other, Gajeel was seated at a desk writing furiously, and every square foot of carpet in between was covered in books and parchment.

"Um... Hello," she called out, and Lulli turned from where he was reaching for a book to greet her.

"Oh! Levy, we were expecting you. Quick question... How much do you know about our political situation with the nation of crocus?" Shouted Lilly busily. Levy responded promptly," we have had good trade relation in the past, but recently trade convoys between the two countries have been attacked, straining the relationship."

"Great, you understand. Go help Gajeel write diplomatic correspondence." At this, Levy ran over to the Prince, who was poring over books and treaties, and writing out long winded letters and legal documents. He seemed to not even register her presence until she cleared her throat.

"Oh, shortie," he said, ignoring the 'hmph' at the nickname, "you think you can write up a nice sounding diplomatic letter including all of these points?" At this he shoved several blank prices of parchment, and one filled with bullet points that needed to be in the letter into her hands, and turned back to his stacks of paper.

Levy plunked into a chair in the corner f the room and started writing, occasionally getting up to retrieve a book or document for reference. By the time she finished the impeccably worded letter, there was a small fort of books around her. She approached the desk again, retrieving a treaty that needed to be annotated for their diplomats, and set to work on that. The work was quite tedious, but however good Levy was at fighting, her diplomacy and literacy were twice that, and she completed the work without much difficulty.

Midday rolled around, and Levy had to leave for mandatory new recruit training. She arrived at the deserted training ground in time to meet the same two boys that had graduated with her. They nodded to each other and then waited in silence. The instructor was legendarily fearsome, though nobody would offer specifics on this mysterious person, oddly enough. While waiting together, yet again, they might add, they shared stories of their mentors and assignments. Rogue was doing much the same work as levy for the moment, as his mentor was preparing for a small diplomatic trip to the northern border, whilst Sting and his mentor would soon be sent out on a trip to head the guard of a trade caravan. Levy told how she was apprentices to Prince Gajeels aide, so she essentially went wherever the Prince went. She noticed that Rogue perked up at the mention of the Prince, strangely enough. As they chattered idly, they didn't notice the figure enter the training ground until they stood directly before the three.

"Welcome, oh newest Knights!" Boomed a voice, as the three jumped to attention, observing the person who stood before them. It definitely was not what they expected." I am Erza Scarlet! I am not officially a knight, but I am the royal sword instructor and can beat most of the Knights in a brawl!" She stood, proud and erect, long read hair trailing down her back. She wore armor, obviously custom made and expensive, and stood with a regal air.

"Well let's see what you three can do. All of you, come at me!" She pulled out her sword and stood at the ready. The two boys looked hesitant to attack a woman, despite her steady stance and assured air. Levy broke the stillness, dashing forwards and stabbing at her gut.

" oho! Shorty got guts!" Cheered Erza as she skillfully evaded the strikes. The sudden action broke the other two out of their reverie, and they two ran at Erza. The three attempted to surround her, but the swords woman was fast, keeping the three in a line, maneuvering it so that they obstructed each other, and just all together negating the advantage of numbers.

It went in like this for a while, Erza skillfully countering the three and whacking them with the flat of her sword whenever the opportunity was presented. Eventually, she called the fight to a stop, and had them do drills. Over and over. For an hour. At the end of the hour, they went and changed, Levy again being thankful for the empty barracks, and went back to their mentors, to continue their work.

Back in the office, Gajeel looked at the order that had just been delivered to his desk.

"Oi, Lilly," he called, gesturing his aide over to the desk, " notify the newbie, we're going to crocus in a week."

A. N.: here it is, the first day as a knight. This chapter was mostly filler really. Interesting stuff should happen, with those three traveling alone. Anyways, thank you so much for reading. In response to a question that was asked, I have never seen naruto, and the inspiration for the test actually came from blackbelt testings that I have observed in my taekwondo studio. If you ask a question, I will probably answer it. Comments, complaints, and suggestions are always welcome and they make my heart happy. Thank you for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the course of the next week, things progressed much the same way that they had the first day. Levy would rise earlier than the rest of the people in her barracks, which housed about twenty men. She would then change discreetly on her bunk, tightening her chest bindings carefully, and head out for a morning run or workout, before washing up and going to the mess hall for food. She would eat with the other fifty or so Knights on base, and then go to her work. Levy helped with the overload of paperwork and diplomatic correspondence in the princes office, and then attended sword practice with Lady Erza. The more Levy learned about her, the more she came to respect the instructor.

From what Erza told them, she was born a noble, but kidnapped and sold into slavery as a child. She led a revolt when she was only a child, breaking out and escaping. Disliking her weakness in the early years, once she was reunited with her noble family, she insisted upon sword training, and became a powerful force to be reckoned with. Years later, she was reunited with lord Jellal Fernandez, whom had been imprisoned in the same place as her as a child, and they were married. She had refused to take his last name, as she disliked depending on people. Because of her friendship with the royal siblings, and her noble status, she was given the leeway to instruct the newer Knights in swordplay.

Levy came to enjoy her sessions with Erza and the other two new knights. She became quite close to the two, who she also found out would be accompanying her, Gajeel, and Lilly to Crocus. Rogue was quiet and reserved, and she found out that he looked up to Prince Gajeel immensely, as he had apparently been a part of a team that rescued his village during the war seven years back. With his distinctive piercings, it was no surprise that Gajeels face had stuck with the dark haired boy. The look on Rogues face when he was told he would be entrusted with the princes protection was amazing. Sting, on the other hand, met Rogue after his family was killed by highwaymen, and Rogues family took him in. The two grew up as brothers, and best friends, and now they were here together.

Levy had managed to evade any questions about her past, as some things could get her into trouble. This, of course, bothered the two other recent initiates. They would pester her from their bunks in the barracks well into the night.

"So how did you end up with an adopted sister?"

"Where did you grow up?"

"Where did you learn to fight?"

All questions like that. Once, they tried to get her drunk, though the two of them ended up drinking themselves into a stupor and she had to drag them home. That was an interesting night. Nonetheless, they spent about fifty percent of their time preparing with Levy, Gajeel and Lilly, and the other half either practicing with Erza or with their own mentors. Normally, Sting and Rougue would only practice with their own mentors, but it was decided that the new Knights would all go on a mission together, to make them more comfortable.

In the knight regiment, there were only about a hundred total, with about five or six new members each year, and about fifty on base at the castle. This year was a slow year for recruitment. The rest were stationed in other places, solving land disputes, acting as foreign representatives in the near bye nations, or just protecting towns from bandits. Normally, the protection of the royal family went to their direct aides, Lilly for Gajeel, Gray for Natsu, and a knight named Doranbolt for Wendy. She would probably be assigned someone closer to her age when she got older. As Levy was Lilly's apprentice, she would of course accompany them. The other two were sent along, as it was decided that more protection wouldn't do any harm.

The group would be living rough for a few weeks, horseback riding all the way there. Any documents would be sent by carriage, but the border regions that they would have to pass through were turbulent, so it was decided that a royal carriage would draw too much attention, and documents could be replaced, but Gajeel could not. No chances were being taken with the future kings life.

The night before departure, Sting and Lilly put their heads together, and decided that the group of men needed to go out drinking together.

"No." Came the point blank response from Gajeel. Rogue also looked hesitant, and Levy was just in general disinterested.

"Oh come on Gajeel. I don't think you've left this office in a week," wheedled Lilly, knowing that the Prince had gone longer before. Sting pitched in now,

"I want to get to know you guys better, and we all know that nobody is more themselves than when they're drunk!"

"Sting, that makes no sense whatsoever," said Rogue, always the voice of reason. Levy just sighed at their antics, ignoring them until she felt herself torn away from her papers and hoisted into the air. Lilly had heaved her up onto his shoulder, grabbed Gajeel by the ear, and was on his way out the door, Sting following with Rogue in tow.

"LILLY, PUT ME DOWN!" Protested Levy, panicking.

" nope. We are all going drinking." As Gajeel opened his mouth to protest, "goddamnit, Lill," he the older knight just said, "I was tasked with looking after you, and that includes your mental health, Gajeel. You would go crazy if you spent another minute in that room." Gajeel shut up, knowing that arguing with the knight in this state was useless. Rogue just pouted, being hauled along by a jovial Sting.

Lilly eventually released the two when they agreed to come quietly, and they made their way to the town tavern, Sting and Lilly enthusiastically, the other three reluctantly.

"Hello, sirs, how can I help you?" Asked the mistress in the entrance.

"Seating for five, a hot meal, and some ale for the lot of us, madam," responded Lilly jovially. They were seated quickly, and luckily, nobody looked at them twice. Food came quickly, and Sting flirted shamelessly with the waitress.

As the evening went on, Levy drank slowly, and watched as the rest of her party slowly became drunker and drunker. They also got louder and louder as the night progressed. Lilly and Gajeel made quite the pair, as the normally gruff and reserved Prince became louder and bawdier as he had more to drink. Sting became more and more shamelessly flirtatious , and rogue just nursed his cup silently, swaying in place. Levy watched with quiet amusement when they burst into song, but grew tired of it after their third rendition. The waitress eventually took pity on Levy, and cut the men off.

"Don't you boys think you've had enough?" Said the serving lady.

"Madam, would one so lovely as you really take away our pleasure?" Asked sting, slurring, and winking up at her. She was unaffected, responding cooly with,

"I think you boys should be getting on home." Disgruntled, Sting shot up, dragging Rogue with him.

"Fine then! We'll take our business elsewhere!" Lilly and Gajeel followed, and Levy trailed after the group. She gave the waitress a generous tip for putting up with them, and got a pitying look in response.

"Guys! Where are you going?" Called Levy, as Sting let them through the seedier areas of town. They came to a building that Levy had never seen before.

"Hey, Lev, you're eighteen, right?" Asked Sting suddenly.

"Yes, why?" She responded apprehensively.

"Are you a virgin?" He asked, and Levys face blushed bright red. "I'll take that as a yes" he laughed, as she struggled to stutter an answer, and herded the group, Lilly seeming interested, Gajeel mimicking Lilly, and rogue swaying broodily, into the building. Levy protested loudly, but was ignored and dragged along by the much taller Sting. They passed a large, well muscled man in the entryway, there to protect the 'workers' and made their way into the main chamber of, what was now apparent as a brothel. Levy was protesting and digging her heels in the entire way.

"Guys? Guys this is a bad idea. You're drunk, let's stop and go home," panicked Levy, who's complaints fell upon deaf ears. In the lobby of the building, an older woman, the madam of the establishment, perked up, looking at the group. Levy tried her best to escape the situation,

"Madam, I'm sorry to disturb you, they've had a bit to much to drink, and we were just leavi-" she was cut off by Lilly, who interjected with, "ignore the boy, he's a bit nervous." He then whispered conspiratorially, "it's the lads first time." Lilly had an iron grip on Levys arm as sting made arrangements and payed the madam, and she nodded, and gestured for Levy to follow first, a curt "I'll lead you to your rooms shortly" to the rest of the group. Sting and Lilly had to shove her in, and she heard the door click closed, a feeling of dread filled her.

As Levy contemplated jumping out the shuttered window, she heard footsteps in the hallway, and the door creaked open.

A. N.: this update took forever. I'm very very sorry for that. I got a comment about my random spelling mistakes, and I'm trying to fix that. Sorry about that. Most of this has been typed up on my phone in the middle of the night, so it's not all the best quality. I'm not quite sure if the hooker will be helpful, or try to blackmail Levy, and I would love to hear what you guys think on the issue. On that note, all comments, complaints and questions are welcome and appreciated, and thank you very much for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

As the girl entered the room, Levvy scrambled backwards, hoping to put some distance between the two of them. Her knees hit the bed, and Levy awkwardly crawled across to the other side. The girl sashayed in, her dress cut scandalously low, with a slit displaying her long leg. She was obviously beautiful under the thick makeup.

"You don't have to be nervous, Hun," purred the girl, crawling across the bed slowly, and presenting Levy a gratuitous view of her cleavage.

"U-um miss, you see I don't actually want to be here..." Stuttered Levy, "why don't we just talk instead. What's your name?" The prostitute pulled Levy by her collar to sit on the bed next to her.

"They call me Cinnamon," said the girl, flicking her incredibly long hair out of her eyes and running her hand up Levys arm.

"No, your actual name?" The girl looked a little annoyed at this.

"Fine... My birth name is flare," she seemed to want to distract levy from this line of thought. Flare ran a hand up Levys torso and to her chest, and in the process, the hooker noticed something off about the supposed boys physique.

Curious now, Flare decided to investigate. She pushed the small delicate looking boy down, and slipped her hands under his shirt, yanking it off, and drawing out a yell of protest. "Hmm, what's going on here, sweetie?" She asked mostly to herself. The figure beneath her was not that of a boy. Despite the muscles and scarred abdomen, there were bandages wrapped tightly around the chest, and obviously flared hips.

"What's a little girl like you doing here?" Asked Flare, still straddling the girl. "Are you a homosexual? Do you lust after females? I can satisfy you, if you'd like," she said, looking down.

"N-no, nothing like that. My comrades, well they don't know I'm a girl." She admitted, praying that the whore wouldn't tell anyone. "They can't know!" She cried with a hint of desperation. Now Flares curiosity was piqued. Despite her looks, Flare was sharp, and was curious to the little girls situation.

"I won't tell anyone, okay?" Said Flare, and the look of relief on the small girls face was obvious. "But, you have to tell me your story," Flare was interested. She recognized this person now, as the short blue haired boy from the knight exams. She was curious as to what would drive someone to such drastic matters. The two wasted the night away, exchanging life stories.

Levys story started in her ordinary small town, where she grew up until she was eleven. Then the war hit, with the rebel group, who called themselves Phantom Lord, attacking towns all over the country, making their way towards the Capitol. They would pillage and burn villages as they went along, and Levys just happened to be one of the unfortunate victims.

They attacked in the middle of the night, breaking into houses, stealing things, killing men and doing unspeakable things to women. Levys father and mother rushed her out of the house, and the three ran. The father was the first to get caught, rent nearly in half by a surprise sword blow from behind, before the mother was stabbed through the chest. All of this happened in front of eleven year old Levy, who was cornered at the time. Before continuing to explain, the girl had to stop and take a deep breath, mentally preparing herself to relive the event.

Levy was attacked, and wounded badly. She was struck again and again, covered in wounds still apparent as scars seven years later. She was also violated, in the worst way possible, by the disgusting man. Because of this, she was unchaste, dirtied, and unfit to ever be wed. She lay nearly comatose for several hours, and nearly bled out. When she became conscious, Levy looked around the town for hours, calling out and crying in the hope of finding just one survivor, but having no luck.

Eventually, she left the town, barely staggering, wounds still weeping. She made her way through several miles of wilderness, over the course of a few days, with no food, and only a little water from woodland streams. She came to a sprawling estate. This was when she met her adopted sister Lucy.

Lucy was hiding out in a shed on the edge of the property, having angered her abusive father. When she came across the injured blue haired girl, collapsed on the ground, her kind nature wouldn't let her do anything but help. Lucy was in possession of a book of medicine and treatments, one of her only reminders of her dead mother, and used it to help Levy, hiding her in the shed and nursing her wounds and infections. Once Levy was well, and preparing to leave, Lucy insisted upon going with her.

The two led the next few years until they were fifteen traveling, pickpocketing to survive, never staying in one place for too long. They hardly got caught, though they had a few close calls, Levy discovered a talent for lying, and for fighting. They went about life destitute, though they had each other. Once, during a particularly desperate time, Lucy tried to take up exotic dancing, in the town of Dragonsgate. When Levy mentioned this, Flare gasped.

"Lucy? As in Lucy Heartfilia? I met her in Dragonsgate! She saved me from a thug!" Flare explained that Lucy had helped her stand up to an unruly customer on her first and only day working there. She still remembered how an irate little blue haired girl had arrived on the scene spitting mad, and dragged her brief companion out of the establishment. Nonetheless, Levy had dragged her out of that town, and in the neighboring town is where their luck started changing.

Levy attempted to pickpocket a hulking, well to do, blonde man. As she bumped into him, and then made to run away, she felt an iron grip on her wrist, jerking her back.

"Oi, brat," growled the man, towering over her diminutive height.

"H- hello, sir... Is this yours?" Asked the tiny fifteen year old, offering the wallet as if she had picked it up from the ground. The blonde sighed, and took it from her, saying,

"No use kidding yourself, we both know what you did." Levy was terrified at this point, as he started walking, her hand still in his large hand. Now, Lucy, having witnessed the event, ran out of an alley, and tried to save Levy. She of course ended up also dragged along behind the blonde, until they reached fairy tail tavern. The man, brought the two to his grandfather Makarov, who fed them and employed them for two years, before they moved on to the Capitol to try and achieve their dreams. One year from then, here she was.

When Levy finished her story, light was just barely broken the horizon, and both she and Flare were having difficulty keeping her eyes open. Levy bid fare well to the girl, after thanking her for listening to her story, and slipped out into the silent streets. She walked alone, feet padding silently, and contemplated everything that had gotten her to where she was, some with melancholy, and some with humor or happiness. It was the start of a new adventure, right now.

A. N.: sorry if this chapter was boring, I wanted to get some backstory in. They will begin traveling next chapter, and I should be able to start slipping in the gajevy from here on out. Thank you for reading, and I love you all. Comments, complaints, and everything in between are welcome, and appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

Levy snuck in, and managed to get an hour or two of sleep in the barracks before the arranged meeting time. She noticed that Sting and Rogue were conspicuously absent. When she made her way to the stables, about ten minutes earlier than the arranged time, the other four were nowhere to be seen. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. After about half an hour, the first of the party finally trailed in. Lilly appeared, looking only slightly hung over, a grin plastered on his face. Levy would never understand morning people.

"Hey lev!" He called, walking up and thumping her on the back, "soooo, how was last night?" He asked, with a suggestive wink. Levy was saved from answering the question by the arrival of a grumpy, hung over, Gajeel.

"Stop talking, and whoever got me drunk, I hate you right now." He grumbled. At this point, a just as hung over Sting arrived, and he and Gajeel were miserable together. Rogue trailed after him, silent, moody and swaying slightly as he walked. He may have still been drunk, but nobody could tell either way. Every one was silent, either because they were hung over, or too smart to piss off those who are hung over.

The group prepared horses in silence, as the first time Lilly tried to start conversation, Gajeel gave him such a withering glare, that he shut up immediately, and no one else was stupid enough to try. They exited castle grounds with little fanfare, hoping to avoid alerting any bandits or criminals of the relatively exposed state of the Prince.

They took side roads, over the grassy hills surrounding the city. There was a forest about a hard day's ride away, and that where they were aiming to camp that night, in the relative shelter. They rode quite quickly and in a comfortable silence, as most of the party was at least a little hung over. Levy had to force herself not to make fun of the larger men, but she figured that wouldn't help her situation.

The day's riding was anticlimactic, tedious, and tiring. Levy was unused to long periods of horse riding, as she had never done so before. When she and Lucy had wandered as children, it had always been on foot, so by the end of the day, her rear end was seriously sore.

The group stopped in a clearing once they got a ways into the forest, after making sure they weren't visible from the road. They had arrived after dark, because the riding had been slowed by the fact that almost every person in the group felt awful. One disappointing dinner of trail rations later, the group was preparing for bed. Despite it only being the first day of their journey, everyone was already pretty tired, though none of them were hung over any more. They got ready for sleep with minimal fanfare or discussion. Levy glanced down and tried not to blush as all the guys got changed. All she did was take down her hair and strip off her outer tunic and chain mail.

They drew lots for the watch, Gajeel stubbornly joining the pool, despite Lilly's attempt to exclude him from the task. Levy drew the first watch, and so she sat in the dark of the warm night. Because the weather had not yet cooled, the lot of them had decided against setting up tents, instead just laying out sleeping bags and sleeping under the stars. She sat, facing away from the campsites, thinking silently as the breathing and snores of her companions and their horses rumbled around her. The talk with Flare had dredged up some unpleasant memories, that were chasing around her head, replaying over and over again. Scenes played in her mind, and she struggled to think of the happy times she had shared with lucy and her friends. Eventually, Levy forgot to focus on her starlit surroundings, falling completely into her mess of a mind. She was startled out of her reverie eventually, by Sting tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Levy, my turn. Go sleep," he whispered, nudging her towards the camp. Levy went willingly, tired from the tedium of the day and lack of sleep the night before. She fell asleep quickly, but her turbulent mind wouldn't settle. She ended up replaying a conglomerate of the misery and terror of the day seven years ago, when her village and family, not to mention innocence, was destroyed. She woke up after a few hours of restless sleep, eyes snapping open, breathing heavy and ragged, and she remained terrified just for a moment, trapped in her nightmare. She sat up and rubbed her tired eyes, unable to sleep in her current state, and then stood and walked to the edge of the campsite, mindless of the noise she made. She leaned against a tree, trying to clear her mind, relaxing a little and feeling better, until a sword appeared at her throat.

Gajeel had pulled the graveyard shift, directly after midnight. It was silent and dark and eerie, and he was half asleep. He wasn't actually expecting anything to happen, so when he heard rustling and soft footsteps, he jumped a little, before silencing his breathing and creeping towards the intruder in the dark. As he comes up behind them. He doesn't register the familiar form that he's got pinned to a tree with a sword to their throat, until his eyes meet with Levys wide, terrified ones. He stumbled back, startled and not recognizing the boy for a moment. He thought he had caught some little girl, and it took a moment to recognize the small knight, with his wild bedhead floating around his face, and delicate features not shadowed by his omnipresent bandana. He noticed how wide and eyes and terrified the boy looked, and realized he was still pinning him to a tree and threatening him with a large sword. Gajeel backed off quickly before speaking.

"Wha- oh lev... You startled me." He grumbled quietly, wary of waking their companions," what are you doin' up at this time, short stuff?"

"Shut up Gajeel..." Gajeel walked back to his original spot as guard, with Levy following. "I just couldn't sleep, that's all."

"Well if ya need to, you can sit with me," said Gajeel, patting the ground besides him. He had been leery of the very small man before, but the boy legitimately impressed him. His writing was top notch, and honestly, his diplomatic skills better than some of the high ranking Knights. He had been boredly observing his companions earlier, and noticed the new knight rolling around some. He hadn't seemed to be sleeping soundly. "I'm not gonna bug you 'bout it, but if you need to talk, now is the time."

Levy glanced up at this, eyeing the larger man in curiosity. The two had become closer in their time working together, though she was still intimidated by him, and it was unusual to see him trying to offer comfort like this.

"It's just... Um... I'm just worried about my sister," mumbled Levy, unsure of how much she wanted to tell the prince.

"That maid of Wendy's right... Umm oh! Bunny girl!" Said Gajeel.

"Bunny girl?! Her name is Lucy, you idiot!" Burst out Levy, half annoyed, half amused.

"Gihi, that's the spirit, shrimp." Gajeel grinned down at the younger knight, glad to see some energy returning to him. Levy half heartedly glared up at him. The two sat together, bickering and chatting, throughout much of Gajeels watch. Eventually, Levy drifted off, leaning against the much larger person. Gajeel found it a little odd, but he was glad to see that his friend was finally sleeping soundly. There he remained, until the end of his shift, at which point he dragged Levy and unceremoniously dumped him in the general area of his sleeping bag, before going to sleep himself.

A. N.: so this is it, the new chapter. Essentially, I'm just trying to build some chemistry right now. I already have how one member of the group will find out planned, and it should be interesting. Anyways, any comments, complaints, questions, suggestions, they're all welcome. Thank you so much for reading.


	10. Chapter 10

Levy woke up, dew dripping on her face, tasting grass. She rolled over, coming face to face with Lilly's boots, as he laced them up.

"Rise and shine Lev! We have a day's ride before we get to sleep in an actual bed!" He announced cheerfully.

"Lilly, we've only been on the road a day," said Sting, sitting and pulling on his chainmail a few feet away, "you haven't even been out here long enough to start to smell."

"Well excuse me for liking civilization," replied Lilly easily.

"Gihi, I agree with Lil," pitched in Gajeel.

"Sting, you're the only weirdo who likes sleeping outside," said Rogue, gently teasing his friend.

As all this was going on, Levy took the chance to pull her chainmail and tunic on, as well as begin to deal with her bedhead. As she yanked a brush through her hair, still half asleep, the rest of the group bustled about, packing up camp. After she got up, and packed up her stuff, she was digging in her pack when Gajeel shoved a chunk of bread into her hands silently, before turning away and stomping off to his horse. Levy stared after him for a moment, befuddled, before eating it slowly.

The group was much more upbeat and talkative that day, chatting and bantering as they rode along. Even the typically quiet Rogue joined in. The group had plans to stop in a town, which they should reach that evening. The innkeeper was a trusted correspondent and a former knight, so the royal advisors weren't worried about their Prince staying there. The ride went quite easily, as it was a shorter ride than the day before, so it was easier on Levys sore rear end.

Even after only one night in the wilderness, Levy was looking forward to sleeping in a bed, under a roof. Not to mention bathing after days of sweaty riding. It was not a particularly pleasant experience, waking up with grass in her mouth. Around mid afternoon, the town came into sight, as a smudge on the horizon. As they rode closer, though, the good mood that they had started the day with started to fade.

The town was now more visible, and they could see that it was suspiciously still, and there was broken windows, and other damages to buildings. The town gave off an ominous, foreboding air. They walked up to the first building, and stopped, Lilly taking the point position of the group. His horse cantered forward a few feet, and he gestured the others forward. Sting and Rogue flanked Gajeel, and Levy took up the rear. He looked annoyed, but made no objections, knowing very well the situation.

As they continued down the road into town, Levy noticed some movement in her peripheral vision, but she wasn't able to get a good look at anyone or anything, until a man stepped into the center of the road, directly in front of them.

"Oi, where do you lot think you're going?" He asked, sneering up at the mounted group. Lilly took it upon himself to answer, after sending a warning glance back at the group.

"We were hoping to stay in the inn here for the night," responded Lilly cautiously. As they were speaking, more and more people trickled out to flank the man in the middle, who appeared to be their leader.

"Look here, boys," jeered the man over his shoulder," this lot want to stay at the in. That would cost a pretty penny, wouldn't it?" The man smirked at them, as the group of filthy men seemed to inch forward. All together, they charged the small group. The group of bandits probably outnumbered them at least five to one, so it would not be an easy fight.

The first thing that the bandits did was yank the group off of their horses. Lilly and Gajeel were the most difficult, because of their size, but the attackers managed it through sheer numbers. The Knights closed ranks around Gajeel, glad that at least the bandits hadn't recognized him. The outlaws were all physically strong, but had poor technique and employed little to no strategy. Lilly and Gajeel were felling people with massive swings of their broadswords, splattering blood everywhere. Sting and Rogue were back to back, fighting together, as they had since childhood. Levy found herself separated from her comrades, drawn away by the crowd. She caught Lilly's eye, and motioned towards the leader, indicating that she intended to sever the head of the beast. Lilly seemed torn. He wanted to help his apprentice, but he also had a responsibility to the prince. Levy settled this for him, turning and ducking through the crowd of combatants, felling people left and right as she went.

Lilly returned his focus to the fight, and the dwindling numbers of bandits. He took a few wounds, a scratch to his cheek, and another shallow cut across his shin, as well as countless scrapes and bruises. As the number went down to single digits, he noticed the absence of his apprentice.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go find Levy," he shouted over his shoulder. Sting and Rogue moved to flank Gajeel, making quick work of the remaining two or three opponents. Lilly moved off in the direction that he had seen the leader retreat in, several minutes ago.

As he entered the alleyway, what he saw shocked and infuriated him. Levy was fighting the remaining two combatants, the leader and one subordinate. Several lesser does were scattered on the ground around them. The last two seemed to be more skillful than the rest. As he turned the corner, Levy felled the subordinate, but in doing so, he took a terrible blow, diagonal, cutting him from the hip bone diagonally all the way to the ribs. The leader spotted Lilly approaching, and wrapped a meaty arm around Levys neck, placing his sword against his flesh. The smaller knight was held hostage there. Levy looked like he could barely stand, dripping with blood, gagging, eyes hooded with pain.

"Don't come any closer!" Screamed the man, a manic look in his eye, as he pressed harder on the young knights neck. Lilly began to see red. He may be in charge of protecting Gajeel, but he was also Levys mentor. He had trained with this boy, supported him, watched him grow. He growled deep in his throat, a primal response to his rage, and charged, beheading the man before he even realized what had happened.

Levy collapsed, gasping at the pain. Lilly hoisted him up, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, and dragging him ungracefully out of the alleyway.

"GUY, FIND ME A BED OR A TABLE, AND SHELTER, QUICKLY!" Bellowed Lilly, rushing up to his comrades, supporting the unconscious Levy. Their eyes widened, but they did as told, rapidly finding a cot in one of the abandoned houses, and setting up the tent for use. Lilly entered, but Sting, Gajeel, and Rogue were all rebuffed in their offers to help. They hung sullenly outside the tent, their own wounds forgotten out of worry for their friend.

" 's for the best, guys," grumbled Gajeel, sitting himself on a rock nearbye, after rounding up the scattered horses, "Lilly's the best at first aid outta the lot of us."

"I should have gone with him," mumbled Rogue, "shouldn't have let him get separated." Sting placed a sympathetic hand on Rogues shoulder, and watched the outside of the tent forlornly.

Inside, Lilly cut off the remainders of Levys chainmail and tunic, uncovering his body completely. Once he got a good look, Lilly sighed, and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh Lev, you have a lot of explaining to do," was all he mumbled to himself, before setting to work.

A. N.: omg exciting chapter! Yay! Okay, anyways thank you very much for reading my story. It's getting interesting, huh? Comments, questions, and complaints are all welcome. Thank you so much for reading and supporting my story, guys.


	11. Chapter 11

Levy was unconscious for two days after that battle. A lot happened in that time. Villagers slowly started trickling back into the town, after catching word of the bandits being driven out. The innkeeper came back, and gave the entire group free rooms. When Lilly carried Levy in, the innkeeper looked shocked.

"What were you doing, bringing a boy like him?" He asked, shocked at Levys ghostly pallor. He probably meant no harm, but Lilly just felt all the worse.

As Levy lay there, painfully still and silent, the rest of the group tried to decide what to do. Lilly refused to call a healer, and Gajee got angry at this. Lilly was, of course, unable to explain why. It devolved into a shouting match between the two, with Sting and Rogue in the middle, looking terrified. The two younger men retreated into Levys room, watching their companion worriedly. As they listened to muffles shouts, thy saw their blue haired companion stir. Sting took it upon himself to sound the alarm.

"Levy woke up!" At this, the two larger man rushed into the room, in time to see Levy attempting to sit up, a grimace on her face as she noticed the half healed wound.

Levy drifted back to consciousness, groggy and vaguely aware of an ache in her midsection. She found herself staring at a white ceiling, and was instantly confused as to how she got there. Last she remembered, she was taken hostage by that bandit, and then passed out. Her mind was fuzzy, and she tried to sit up, shoving herself upright, before an intense throb of pain in her stomach caused her to drop down on the mattress and groan in pain. At the noise, Rogue hurried to her side.

"Levy! You're awake, we were worried!" Said Rogue. Sting took off running, shouting jubilantly, and Levy watched him quizzically.

"Probably getting Lilly and the prince," said Rogue, in response to her unasked question. The two sat in companionable silence, and Levy tentatively poked at her bound abdomen. As the rest of the group crowded in, she was quickly overwhelmed by the chatter. Sting was freaking out and being hyperactive, with Rogue nearbye. Lilly seemed happy, though he looked uncertain for some reason. Gajeel was grinning widely, and kept thumping her on the shoulder. As she fingered the bandages, something struck her. Who had done them up? They extended up to her chest, and she could tell that the wound stopped at her ribs. So either some random healer had chosen to keep her secret, or someone in this room knew. Just then, Lilly spoke up.

"Okay, you lot. Clear out, I need to check the bandages." Well that clarified it. The group of men filed out, and proceeded to make noise directly outside the door, whilst Lilly turned to face her.

"Lilly... You did these up, right?" She asked, knowing the answer. Lilly just nodded, sitting on the end of her bed. She sighed. She had barely made it past a week with her secret, goddamnit.

"Levy... You're a girl." He said plainly. She looked down and nodded, unsure how to judge his reaction. "I wrapped your wounds, and I saw those scars on your stomach. I'm not mad, not anymore. What on earth drives a girl that looks like you to signing away your identity and becoming a knight?"

Levy was surprised at his calm reaction, but hopeful that she may have gained another strong ally. This hope was dashed a bit when she heard him say, "keep in mind, I still half want to follow protocol and kick you out of the Knights after thirty lashes."

She ended up spending the next hour telling a condensed version of her story to Lilly. When she was done talking, he simply sat and stared for a moment, before speaking.

"Well shit. With a story like that, how the hell am I supposed to kick you out?" He buried his face in his hands looking frustrated. "I am going to get in so much trouble for this. Fine Levy, I'll help you out. I won't tell anyone."

As he finished his sentence, the rest of the party crashed through the door.

"Oi! Lill! You two have been in here for ages!" Crowed Gajeel. "We brought food!" At this, he threw a bundle onto the bedsheets. Levy picked it up and examined the contents, pulling out a small loaf of bread, some preserved meats, an apple, and a water skin. At the sight of the treats, she suddenly became aware of just how hungry she was, having not eaten in two days.

Soon afterwards, the group decided that they needed to move on. They had stayed in the inn for a week, to heal up and were getting too far behind schedule. She had been gradually moving more and more, and despite the continuing discomfort, she insisted that they move on. The next stint on the road would take about ten days, before the group would stay in a town again.

The morning of their departure, Levy was, again, the first one down and preparing her horse. This time though, the next two down were Sting and Rogue. Rogue looked fine, but Sting was stumbling along half asleep. Apparently Rogue had gotten him up. Next came Gajeel and Lilly. Lilly was upbeat and excited, but Gajeel was grumpy. The group had learned early on that he was not a morning person.

They all prepared their horses, chatting amiably amongst themselves. When the time came to depart, Levy was having trouble hoisting herself onto the large warhorse she had been equipped with. Attempts to get up resulted in an uncomfortable straining on the wound on her midsection. Gajeel seemed to notice this.

"Oi shrimp, having trouble there?" He said teasingly.

"Hey! I'm not a shrimp!" She said to him as he walked over to her.

"Yeah yeah," was all he said, before simply picking her up under the arms and sitting her on the horse.

"There ya go, shrimp," was all he said, walking away. Levy blushed tomato red, and was too embarrassed to even stutter out a response. Sting had watched this entire exchange and burst out laughing, and even Rogue seemed amused. Lilly had a wide grin on his face, and they set out in quite a good mood, teasing and joking with each other, riding at a relaxed pace.

A. N.: I am so sorry this took so long. Life is kinda hectic right now. This one is a little boring, sorry. Thank you guys so much for reading, and please comment, complain, question, whatever you want. They all make me happy.


	12. Chapter 12

The group rode at a relatively slow pace compared to that of when they had set off. Levy was in pretty extreme pain, though she did her very best to hide it. Every adjustment of her balance sent a twinge through her midsection. Overall it was very unpleasant. Lilly called them all to a stop mid afternoon, much earlier than their previous days of traveling.

"Okay, so the trainees need to continue working. Set up camp, then come meet with me." Levy twisted on her perch, and looked down at the ground from the massive warhorse she had been equipped with. She knew that the jump required would hurt like a bitch, and mentally steeled herself. As she turned around, to step down as far as she could before dropping, hands closed once again around her ribs under her arms, and swung her down to the ground. Levy spun around, glaring up at Gajeel as he pointedly avoided eye contact.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked, annoyed that he seemed to keep thinking that she needed help.

"You looked like you were hurtin'" grumbled the much larger man.

Gajeel himself wasn't quite sure why he kept wanting to help out the smaller knight. Perhaps it was lingering guilt that the boy had gotten hurt whilst he remained relatively unscathed, or maybe it was just his appearance. Levy was just so small and delicate looking, that Gajeel couldn't help but look out for him, despite having seen how capable he was.

"Well I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me, it's my job to worry about you." Responded Levy tartly. She got the feeling that Gajeel saw her as a child, which annoyed her to no extent.

"Seen as we have some free time, do you fancy a spar, Prince?" Suggested Levy. She hadn't had practiced in several days, and was leery of losing her touch

"Gihi, sure thing shrimp,"

"Don't go easy."

They took positions in the center of the clearing that they were camping out in, facing each other, swords at the ready. The other three planted themselves nearbye, in order to observe.

Lilly walked over, taking it upon himself to referee the match, and called out a start signal. The two ran at each other, Gajeel using his longer heavier sword, to try and gain an advantage over Levy. Levy attempted to use her speed to get past the reach of the massive broadsword, but mistimed her leap. She caught a strike to the midsection, wincing as her wound pulled. Levy saw him notice, and Lilly took a half step forward. She took advantage of the distraction, to slip in and smack Gajeel across the face with the flat of her blade, successfully knocking him back. They stopped, because had she used the blade, that would've been a killing blow.

"I told you not to go easy," she smirked up at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Guess you got me there, short stuff."

Lilly had the four of them working out for the rest of the evening, practicing three on one fighting. He would pick one person, and have the rest attack them as a group, shouting encouragement to them on occasion.

"Sting! Line them up, don't let them surround you!"

"Rogue, get in there more, rely on the group to cover your back."

"Levy, don't let him use you as a shield."

"Gajeel, you have longer reach than him, use it!"

He was doing this in light of the recent bandit attack. It had caused him to realize, that even though they were skillful, and could take on highly skilled individuals, the trainees were unused to free for all brawls, fights with multiple opponents. Because of his- her size, Levy was especially liable to be overwhelmed by numbers, which was what had happened.

After several hours, as the sky began to darken, Lilly finally let up on them, and they stopped, panting and sweating and filthy. The all plopped down around the fireplace, relaxing and eating a dinner of rations. They divided up the watch, as per usual on trips outside the safety of civilization, and went to bed. As the men changed, she noticed Lilly sending her awkward glances, and putting on pants as quickly as was humanly possible.

Levy had the second watch, whilst Lilly had the first. She was awoken, hours after dark, for her watch, by Lilly, but instead of going to his sleeping bag, he pressed a finger to his lips, and beckoned her to follow him. Once they had reached a suitable distance into the woods, Lilly turned to face her, speaking in a hushed voice.

"Levy... Your secret... How on earth will you keep it when you are literally living alone with four men in the wilderness?"

"With your help, I hope," she responded, giving him a look that said 'if you rat me out I will never forgive you'.

"It's just... Not decent" he said. "It's not proper... I can't believe I am allowing this!"

"Lilly! I am thoroughly prepared to live as a man for the rest of my life!"

"What if you end up wounded too badly?" He fretted, the two of them now forgetting to whisper. "I can't let you die because of your pride, so what then? If you back out now you can still make it, you aren't well known yet!" He was right. Knights often gained minor celebrity status wherever they were positioned, and there was a lot of scrutiny on them and the exams. There had been a lot of corruption in the knight system about thirty years back, and people had kept a close eye on them ever since. They were almost abolished completely once.

"I can't, though. I can't afford to fail, my sisters ability to live a normal life depends on my ability to support her from here!" Lilly stared at her for a moment, before turning away, and walking back towards camp.

"Fine... Just be careful. It's your turn for the watch, Levy." Was all he said, before crawling into his sleeping bag and rolling away from her. With that, Levy was left alone with her thoughts for the next few hours.

Unbeknownst to Levy and Lilly, the crunching of leaves, when the time came to change the guard, awoke Gajeel. This was at first nothing out of the ordinary, and he expected to see Levy take a post, and Lilly retreat to his sleeping bag. What actually followed was very strange. Lilly beckoned Levy into the woods, in a secretive manner, the small boy following without question, as if he had been expecting it.

They were far enough away that Gajeel could only hear Indistinct murmurs, the volume rising halfway through, though still too low for him to pick up. Despite his fatigue, he found himself straining to pick up anything he could. It really was strange for Lilly to keep secrets from him, and he was wondering what was up with the shrimp, that Lilly would do all this to talk to him privately.

Just as he was giving up hope of finding out anything, Lilly walked into hearing range, calling out,

"Fine... Just be careful. It's your turn for the watch, Levy."

Not much useful. Be careful of what? Why would Levy need to be more careful than the rest of them? Levy took his post silently, betraying no more information to the snooping Prince, to his disappointment. He would have to pay attention to Lilly and short stuff in the future.

A. N.: so there it is! A new chapter, finally. Gajeel is getting suspicious, so yay! I'm sorry I'm updating so slowly, school is insane. Thank you so much for reading! On an unrelated note, I just got a tumblr, and I'm not quite sure how to use it, but I'm going to post some random one shots, unrelated to this story, as they pop into my head. I might also take requests. If you think you'd be interested in reading, maybe comment, and I'll tell you the name of the blog. I guess that's all folks. Thanks again for reading.


	13. Chapter 13

The next nine days passed in the same routine of ride, set down in early evening, train, and then eat and sleep. Luckily for them, the weather held up, meaning there was no need to stop training or to put much extra effort into setting up camp. Levy healed slowly, and her skills slowly improved. Riding became less painful, as they rode hard and for days on end, she was forced to get used to it.

On their last morning on the road before they reached the town on the border with Crocus, Levy awoke unusually early. The only other one up was Lilly, who had taken the last night watch, and then just not gone back to sleep. She nodded in greeting to him, then gathered up her things and prepared to wander into the woods and ready herself. As she did this, a thought struck her. They had been in the road for about ten days, with no adequate bathing. She decided to rectify this.

Levy walked back to the campsite, and told Lilly,

"I'm going to look for a river or something to clean up. Don't go looking for me unless I'm gone longer than two hours."

Lilly merely grunted tiredly in response, not really registering her words as she jogged off into the forest in hopes of finding something. She found a stream after some minutes, and stripped quickly, setting her dirty clothes and the cleaner change by the side of the river. She walked in, ignoring the chill, and washing herself quickly.

Back at the campsite, the rest of the party began to wake up. Gajeel sat up, looking forward to being able to get to civilization. He glanced around the the scene in the campsite. Lilly was up and dressed already, Sting was actively resisting being woken up by Rogue, and Levy... Wasn't there.

"Hey, Lill, where's the shrimp?" Asked Gajeel. He had been paying attention to Levy ever since that overheard conversation, but neither he nor Lilly had done anything suspicious in that space of time.

"I think he went looking for someplace to bathe. It's actually probably a good idea, we smell."

Gajeel considered this. He did need a bath, and it might be a good time to try and bully whatever shortie was hiding out of him. He decided to try and follow the shrimp.

"That sounds like a good idea, Lill. I think I'll do that."

Lilly nodded, forgetting why he should have objection to that. Gajeel took off into the woods, before Lilly realized what he had done. He still sometimes forgot that Levy was female. She acted, for all intents and purposes, exactly like any of the guys. He continues with his morning casually, before, fifteen minutes later, realizing what he had done and face palming in the middle of brushing a horse. This got him some odd looks from Sting and Rogue. He contemplated going after Gajeel, but it was far too late at this point. He would just have to hope Levy was done by the time the prince found her, or better yet, they didn't meet at all.

Gajeel trekked through the woods, following the characteristic trickle of water. When he reached the narrow stream, he followed splashing noises upstream as the river widened and deepened. At this point, he crossed through some bushes and onto the edge of a clearing. On the edge of the stream were familiar clothes, and he could see characteristic blue hair sticking out of the river, as the younger knight was submerged to his neck, back towards Gajeel.

Gajeel was about to make himself known, when something strange happened. Levy turned to exit the water, more of his body becoming visible as he walked further out, but his body... Was not that of a he. Whilst the body of the person Gajeel considered a friend and comrade was covered in the expected lean muscled and scars of a swordsman, it also had... Other features. Namely, an extremely narrow waist, plump rear end, and, as became evident as h-she twisted around, small, but still evident breasts.

He hid his body behind trees and sunk to the ground, burying his face in his hands, and trying to process what he had just seen. Now, a lot of things made sense. Levy did have a few strange mannerisms, and it would certainly explain the smallness of him.

As Gajeel sat thinking, he became increasingly convinced that he had hallucinated the entire thing and, even though it was definitely a little creepy, he peered back around the tree, and instantly regretted it. Now she, and it definitely was a she, was standing completely nude on the riverbank, fussing with some bandages. He watched, unable to turn away as she wrapped her chest, pulled on loose trousers, layered on an undershirt, chainmail shirt and tunic, belted it, and tied her hair tightly out of the way. He had somehow watched someone go from a petit beautiful girl, to a male swordsman in the space of three minutes. At least he knew what he was hiding now.

Gajeel considered what to do. He had a mix of emotions towards this. First off, surprise and confusion, and also a spark of anger for her hiding it from them. At the same time, he had traveled with, trained with and fought with Levy, and had come to care for the younger knight. Gajeel was at something of a loss as to what to do about hi-her. If he wanted to confront Levy in private, now was the time. If he wanted to shame her and kick her out of the group, he could follow her back, or maybe catch up and drag her back.

None of those options seemed pleasant. This was his teammate, who had nearly died to fend of a bandit attack, who he had watched beat out thirty people in an exhausting test, who he had trained and worked with for weeks now. They had become close in that time, all five of them, and though he was angry, he was loathe to break them apart, and Levy was as capable as any man. She had proven that.

Gajeel decided that inaction was the best course for now, though he would be bringing this up to her once they were out of danger. With this decided, Gajeel glanced beck at the clearing, and seeing that Levy had long since vacated it over the course of his musings, got to bathing himself. He really did smell.

A. N.: I am so sorry that took so long guys, but there we go. Now that he knows she's a girl, I can start o write more romantic and sexual tension, So yay! Anyways, it might not be the best so sorry, but any comments, complaints, or suggestions are welcome and very appreciated. I love you guys and thanks for reading.


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